Square One
by Aamalie
Summary: Oh. Oh no. Kagome, you are in so much trouble, do you hear? Oneshot.


**Square One**

-

Okay.

So, she was in _Trouble._ That's right, capitalization, italics, and all. She could feel it with every fiber of her being, including whatever fibers made up her hair. And really, that's a fairly ridiculous thought, as hair is composed of dead cells that cannot feel anything. Not that she knew the minuscule details on that subject matter, of course.

After all, she _had_ spent a rather lot of time in the Sengoku Jidai, running around collecting magical jewel shards and dodging scary demon attacks. Time that would have been better spent studying biology and other important school subjects had her life been a tad more normal.

However, "normal" had a quite different meaning in Kagome Higurashi's dictionary when compared to more standard editions.

But, never mind, that qualifies as a minuscule detail. Fortunately, Kagome happened to be ignoring those at the moment. You would be too, if a rather annoyed-looking hanyou, decked in red and a deceptively normal (again, ignoring the minor details, definition of normal included) sword at his side, was coming your way.

In any case, she _was_, so it doesn't really matter what you would do.

Kagome fiddled with the hem of her sleeves a bit, pointedly ignoring the pressing gazes of her other companions. Miroku was a distance off, limping closer with the support of a curiously blushing Sango. Shippou was off to her other side, sitting beside Kirara and watching the situation with intense curiosity and some embarrassment. And Inuyasha? Yes, his expression was quickly transitioning from very irritated to just plain old mad.

You didn't have to have Kikyou's odd sixth-sense for "interesting" situations to know that something unexpected and not altogether pleasant had just occurred.

_'Makes you wonder if he'd be angrier at me for this,'_ Kagome thought as she let her arms drop, _'at at someone who told him a "your mama" joke…'_

To be honest? It'd probably be a tie. This was pretty bad.

At this point, you're probably wondering _what_ in the world Kagome Higurashi had done to land herself in so much _Trouble._

Well, in short, she had broken the Shikon no Tama, the jewel they had spent months arduously searching and fighting for, into an unknown number of tiny fragments. And not for the first time.

Nope! This was, in fact, the second time she had achieved this remarkable feat in her relatively short history of time-travel. What's worse, the whole frustrating ordeal had been on the verge of ending too!

Kagome let out a soft sigh as she recalled the series of events that had led to this unfortunate occurrence. From what she could remember, she had been aiming an arrow at Naraku from the covering expanse of a grove of trees. The young miko's job was the bide her time, waiting for the prime opportunity to "purify Naraku's filthy ass," as Inuyasha had so eloquently put it.

Eventually, Kikyou, who was being quite cooperative with the group (for once), had shot her arrow at Naraku through the confusion caused by Inuyasha's many attacks. It purposely missed, all in order to divert his attention to the other priestess. That was Kagome's cue. Praying fervently that she wouldn't mess this one up, she had about to release the string when Shippou had made a running crash into her side, apparently running from some ally of their primary foe.

This simple accident caused Kagome to let fly her misguided arrow.

By some stroke of cruel luck (or was it fate?), Naraku just happened to be holding the newly whole and entirely corrupted sacred jewel in his hand, his arm raised high above his head as he made to strike down Kikyou for the final time.

And where, by chance, do you think Kagome's arrow went?

If you guessed, "Naraku's hand!" Well, then… you're right. Congratulations!

A blinding light lit up the area as the arrow sliced through his hand. There was a violent cracking sound, and tiny, glowing fragments glided up into the air in a geyser-like fashion before arcing away into the distance.

In the short time afterwards, Naraku had made his getaway. Kikyou had done her usual thing and slipped off unnoticed. Kagura, who had been occupying Miroku and Sango's intentions, had retreated as well. With all distractions gone, Inuyasha had turned his attention to her, and he seemed none too happy.

"Kagome," he growled, grabbing her by the shoulders to peer into her face. He was clearly expending copious amounts of will-power to retain some semblance of calm, instead of flying off the handle as he usually did. "What just happened?"

She gave a nervous laugh. "I, uh… Broke the jewel… Again?"

"Again," he restated, his right eye twitching strangely.

"Um, yes. I-I'm sorry? It… was an accident?" Kagome received no response. Okay. She had to say _something_ else. "I know this is probably really bad right now−"

"−No shit!"

Well, at least that statement warranted a response, unlike her previous one. With that slight bit of encouragement, Kagome forced a semi-cheerful smile to light her face.

"Look on the bright side! At least Naraku doesn't have the Shikon no Tama anymore, right?" Inuyasha groaned, letting go of one of her shoulders to rub a hand across his eyes irritably. She quickly grew indignant at his behavior. "Look! I know that−"

"Keh," was the hanyou's way of cutting her off. "I know that. The point is, we don't have the damned jewel either, _do we?"_

"Oh. Right."

_"Riiiight."_

"…"

"So now, we have to find them all over again," Inuyasha stated, staring at her in the most unnerving and indecipherable way possible. Kagome nodded bashfully.

"Well, I guess so. But, oh, I know this is a lot to ask of you, considering the circumstances, but I need to go home for a while. I mean, who knows when I'll get another chance to see my family and catch up on schoolwork if we're going to be looking for shards all over again?"

"No," was the simple, unequivocated response.

Kagome's face darkened, and she took a step back from Inuyasha, breaking away from the hand that still rested on her shoulder.

_"Excuse me?_ Look! I think my family deserved to know tha-a…" She trailed off when Inuyasha, a vaguely amused smirk playing on his face, laid a silencing finger on her lips.

"Sure, but that's not the point." What was it about that smirk? Did he know something she didn't? "The point is that, without a Shikon shard, the well is sealed for you. And guess what? This time, we don't have a shard to start out with."

Kagome's eyes widened.

Oh, _crap._

_-_

**Author's Note:** Written and originally posted April 2004, originally entitled _Repeat Disaster_. Reposted now, with full knowledge that the idea they can't go through the well without a shard is purely bad fanon and has no root in actual canon. That said, several years after the fact, I find it entirely amusing that, in defeating Naraku, Kagome did have to shoot the jewel. Too bad it didn't break that time too!


End file.
